Ep 225 Writing as a Redemptive Act with Award-Winning Author, Bret Lott

Bret Lott knows how to make a woman cry. Possibly a man, too, but I'm not sure. I know he's cried (sobbed, he admitted) when reading Leif Enger's book, Peace Like a River. I already liked Bret Lott but that made me like him even more. 

Bret Lott, award-winning author of now 16 books (both fiction and non-fiction) didn't start out to become a writer and, in fact, met obstacles along the way. I'm glad he persevered; if you've read Jewel, one of Oprah's Book Club selections, then I'm sure you're glad as well. He wanted to ride a horse and be a Park Ranger. Grateful that didn't pan out. 

Fun sidenote: Since I'm also from Southern California, it was a delight to find out that Bret used to work at Knott's Berry Farm at the candy apple booth and once-a-month he made waffles for Mr. Knott. 

 

Bret is giving away a signed copy of his latest book out this month entitled: GATHER THE OLIVES, On Food and Hope and the Holy Land  - comment below or on social media to be entered!

Born in Los Angeles in 1958, Lott grew up in Buena Park, CA and Phoenix, AZ before returning to California to live in Huntington Beach, CA. He met and married his wife of 40 years, Melanie Swank Lott, at First Baptist Church of Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley. A graduate of Cal State, Long Beach(1981), Lott headed to Massachusetts for graduate school at UMass Amhurst. He received his MFA in 1984 and landed his first teaching position at Ohio State Univ. In 1986, Lott joined the English Department at the College of Charleston, where he is now a tenured professor and director of the new MFA program and leads writers retreats to Italy.

Find out more about his writing retreats here: https://bretlottwriting.com

Be sure to comment below to be entered to win: Gather the Olives.

Some gems:

• The difference between a good writer and a bad writer: the bad writer says, "Here I am, I have something to say." The good writer writes a good story and you're not aware he or she even exists.
• I write to try and understand things, why people do what they do and what happened to their lives.
• I shared a short story with a girl I liked. She wasn't impressed. I knew right then that I loved her. 
• Jewel was based on my grandmother's life. She had 6 kids and the 6th, my aunt, was Down Syndrome. 
• You're given what you're given in life; the writer's job and joy is to write the pages torn from that life and try to understand it better.
• The best art fills us with wonder and glory and mystery and beauty which are all manifestations of God.